Ginger is Sick!

Today we arrived to find Ginger Sparkleton sick and resting in a tissue box. Apparently someone touched him. Because of this, he lost his magic! Here's the note he left us, along with a small bag of cinnamon:

After School Math Group

Families,

The after school math group will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, December 10. If your child is participating, please make sure they know to stay after school. Snacks will be provided. Students should be picked up no later than 5:30 pm. If you have any questions, please let me know. You can also email Mrs. Nishikawa at nishikawa.kerry@meridianschools.org if you have questions or concerns.

Is it a Snow Day?

Families,

In the event of a snow day, information will be posted on the Meridian School District website. Information will be available on the KTVB website. I will also post information here on my blog. If there is a snow day, it will be announced no later than 6:30 am.

Brrr...

Families,

With the temperatures dipping into the single digits (and below!) it is important that all students remember to bring their winter clothing to school. This includes: hats or ear muffs, winter coats, scarves, gloves or mittens, boots, etc. Just a reminder, when the weather is above 20 degrees Fahrenheit students will go outside to play during recess. 

If your child is in need of any of the above winter weather gear, please let me know.

Holidays Around The World

Families,

We are learning about holiday traditions around the world. We have learned about Christmas in America and Australia. In the upcoming days we will also learn about holiday traditions in England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Sweeden.

Hot Chocolate with Heroes

The PTO sponsored "Hot Chocolate with Heroes" will be on Monday, December 9 from 6:00-7:00 pm in the Chief Jo gymnasium. Be sure to arrive promptly at 6:00 pm to make sure you get free hot chocolate and a treat. Refreshments will NOT be served after 6:15 pm. Hope to see you there!

Ginger Sparkleton Makes a Glitter Snow Angel!

Families,
Today we arrived in our classroom to find Ginger making a glitter snow angel. His note said, "Having no snow was makinig me bitter. Thankfully I found all of this glitter." What a mess!

Ginger Sparkleton is Back!

Ginger is back! Today he's sitting on top of our easel in front of our CAFE board. Here's the note he left us:

FREE Winter Coats

Families,

The Meridian School District recently received a large donation of coats from Brunell Tire Factory. If your child is in need of a new, warm winter coat, please let me or Mrs. Marquart (marquart.tirsha@meridianschools.org) know. There is no charge and coats of all sizes are available. Please take advantage of this opportunity if your child is in need!

Classroom Holiday Wishlist

Families,
Our classroom is in need of some supplies. If you are able to donate one or more of these items, it would be greatly appreciated!

• Glue sticks
• Pencil top erasers
• Kleenex
• Sanitizing wipes
• Dollar Tree or Wal-Mart gift cards (even $5 would help a lot!)
• Scrapbook paper
• Colored pipe cleaners
• Pom-poms
• Crayola crayons (any size box to add to our community crayon bin)

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

A Classroom Visitor

We had an unexpected visitor today! An elf came to our classroom. We named him Ginger Sparkleton. He's here visiting to make sure everyone is on their best behavior before Santa arrives. Ginger will be making nightly trips back to the North Pole to let Santa know whether we've been naughty or nice.

Report Cards for Trimester 1

Families,

Report cards for Trimester 1 will come home tomorrow, Thursday, November 21. Please keep the contents of the folder, sign, and return the empty folder as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Bread Day

Parents and others who have volunteered to help with our bread making should plan on arriving to school no later than 9:20 am. I will need your help until 11:30 am, but you are welcome to stay and have lunch with your child at 12:05 pm. If you are planning to volunteer in the afternoon, please plan on arriving between 2:30 and 2:45 pm. I will need you to help cut bread, spread butter, and pack extra bread in baggies to send home.

Please make sure your child brings their ingredient for bread making by tomorrow. We are still in need of flour, heavy whipping cream, and plastic forks and knives. If you can donate any of these items, please send them in by Friday. Thank you to those of you who have already donated an item. This day wouldn’t be possible without your support.

November 22 is Bread Day

Families,
          On November 22, we will be making bread! This is a super fun and exciting day for students. With the help of volunteers, students will make their own mini-loaf of bread. In order for this day to be a success, I need your help. We are still in need of 4 volunteers in the morning (9:30-11:45) and 1 volunteer in the afternoon (1:30-3:30). If you can help, please let me know as soon as possible. Bread Day requires the help of multiple grown-ups; I simply can't do it alone =)
          We also need empty plastic containers such as Cool Whip or large margarine containers. If you have any extra containers, please send them in! On Friday, November 8 I will be sending a ingredient donation list home. If possible, please help by donating the item. If you are not able to donate the item, please let me know. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

 

 

 

Turkey in Disguise

Dear Families,

        Thanksgiving is just around the corner and you know what that means…turkeys everywhere are going into hiding. Yes, that’s right! Turkeys will do just about anything to avoid being your Thanksgiving meal. Help Tom Turkey survive this Thanksgiving by creating a disguise.

        Your child will bring home a blank turkey template on Friday, November 8. Please help this turkey make it safely past Thanksgiving by disguising him through the holiday he fears the most! Turkeys that have made it through in the past have been dressed like ballerinas, football players, farmers, hula dancers, Elvis, snowmen, Spiderman, a princess, Santa, and even yours truly, Mrs. Hoschouer.

Your main focus is to dress your turkey in attire that will help him blend in with your family so he will go unnoticed at the Thanksgiving table!

Please have fun and be creative! You may use anything you can think of to decorate. Turkeys in the past have been decorated with crayons, macaroni, craft feathers, tissue paper, wallpaper scraps, dried beans, rice, clothes and shoes cut from newspaper ads, ribbons, fabric scraps, etc.

Please follow these directions when disguising your turkey:

1. Cut out the turkey

2. Decide how to disguise him

3. Have fun decorating

Turkeys are due no later than Thursday, November 14, 2013.

 

Thanks and have fun! See below for some examples.

 

 

Crowded Parking Lot

As you know, our parking lot is very crowded in the mornings…leading to parent stress and student tardiness.   It may work better for you to drop off your children at an alternate entrance (off of Hunter or Blue Heron), or drop them on Chateau and have them follow the sidewalk onto school grounds. Thanks – we appreciate your support in making sure kids are on time for the start of school!

Red Ribbon Week

Chief Joseph Red Ribbon Week

October 28—November 1, 2013

Monday—“Life is a Work of Art, Color it Drug Free” Wear as many colors as possible 

Tuesday—“Believe, Achieve, Succeed Drug Free” Wear college shirts. Teachers will wear college shirts or colors and talk about our college experience with students.

Wednesday—Wear Red Day.

Thursday—“Good choices, good character, and bright future” This is career day. Students may dress in nice clothing, similar to what they would wear to a job interview.  NO ghosts, zombies, witches or other Halloween costumes!

Friday— “Our School Rocks” Wear school colors

Harvest Party and Pumpkin Lab

 

 

 

Families,

           

            Our Harvest Party will be on Thursday, October 31 from 3:00-3:45 pm. We will be eating snacks and watching “It’s A Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” If you would like to donate a treat, you may send it to school on the morning of October 31 with your child. This is a busy time of year and children will be getting more than enough sweet treats trick-or-treating, so if you would have time and would like to bring a snack, healthy snacks are encouraged. We have 23 students in our class.

            We will also have our pumpkin laboratory on October, 31. Students will be estimating and measuring with pumpkins. This activity will begin at 1:30 pm. If you are interested in helping during this time, please let me know (e-mail is best). It would be great to have 2-4 parents helping measure, weigh, and count pumpkin seeds.

 

            As a reminder, Chief Joseph students should not wear their Halloween costumes to school on October 31. They can, however, wear work attire (an outfit they might wear to a job interview or clothing that resembles their future career) to celebrate Red Ribbon Week.

A free parent lecture by Dr. Melillo, a leading expert in Learning Disorders, Autism, and ADHD, will be held on Tuesday, October 29 at 7:30 pm at the BSU Special Events Center. Dr. Melillo's years of research and clinical experience with neurobehavioral challenges in chldren led  him to develop The Brain Balance Program, a comprehensive, drug-free program to help kids overcome their behavioral and learning difficulties enabling them to reach their social and academic potential. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP 208-377-3559 or dbooth@BrainBalanceCenters.com

Spelling Homework for Words Their Way

Families,

Students brought home the new spelling homework on Wednesday, October 9. This homework should be completed each week. I will always send it home on Fridays so students can work on the choice activities over the weekend if they choose to do so. I will send home the words to sort on Monday in the SAFARI folder for students to use with their nightly sorts. We will also be sorting and writing our words each day in class.

Link to spelling homework document: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7-7x6zBf5FCZTFETXE4Zk1JdVE/edit?usp=sharing

Math strategies to help with addition and subtraction

Families,

Here are links to some YouTube videos that show strategies we are using in class to solve addition and subtraction problems. Please know that the traditional algorithm for addition and subtraction involving borrowing (regrouping) is NOT a 2nd grade skill. When students are prematurely introduced to the algorithm for addition and subtraction, this can cause confusion and difficulty in class. Please watch these videos below to see how we can solve addition and subtraction without the traditional algorithm. Thanks for your support!

 

 



Adding on a hundreds chart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNLP8JylBvY

Adding with place value blocks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65JFtGH8Jk

Adding on a number line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hst5gf7KAEY

Decomposing for addition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1todbzlcLpo

Bedtime Math

Families,

There's a fabulous website called Bedtime Math that is created by Laura Bilodeau Overdeck. She is a mother with a degree in astrophysics from Princeton University. You can sign up to receive daily math problems for your child and the best part is...it's absolutely free. To check it out, visit: http://bedtimemath.org/.

Happy problem solving,

Chief Joseph Book Fair

Families,

Chief Joseph's Book Fair is scheduled for October 28-31 in the Library. Be sure to check it out!

 

Picture Re-takes

Families,
Chief Jo will have individual student picture re-takes on Friday, October 18 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Please let me know if you plan on having your child's pictures re-taken.